In this October 2007 photo, Britney Spears is surrounded by photographers as she arrives at a court hearing. On Jan. 1, a paparazzo was killed pursuing photos of Justin Bieber. / Kevork Djansezian, AP

by Maria Puente, USA TODAY

by Maria Puente, USA TODAY

In all the years that media paparazzi have relentlessly pursued celebrities, even in the most frenzied recent years, no one has died in such interactions in the USA. Until now.

But will that change anything about the fraught relationship between the photographers and the rich-and-famous they cover? Better not count on it, say both sides.

Ironically, given the complaining by celebs that they are endangered by the celebrity media, it was a paparazzo who was killed in California over the weekend, not his celebrity target, Canadian singer Justin Bieber, who wasn't even there.

In celebrity land, there is some absence of sympathy for the dead man.

"Let's just say there's a lot of people who aren't feeling great sadness over this," says veteran publicist Howard Bragman, vice chairman of Reputation.com, who has represented numerous celebrities fed up with what they call the "stalkerazzi."

Frank Griffin, one of the principals in the Bauer-Griffin photo agency, is even more blunt.

"Because the paparazzo is considered subhuman, I'm quite sure there are plenty of people rubbing their hands with glee and saying, 'I'm glad the pap got killed,' " â??Griffin says bitterly. "It's an absolute tragedy, and yet there will be people who say, 'Yes, he deserved to die.' "

The tragedy occurred Sunday night in West Los Angeles, when photographer Chris Guerra, 29, one of an army of paparazzi who roam Hollywood on any given day, was hit by a car after he darted into a busy street while attempting to snap pictures of Bieber's white Ferrari. Guerra, who specialized in Bieber and freelanced for a photo agency called GSI Media, died later at a hospital.

Bragman says there's too much money in celebrity photos for anything to fundamentally change. "This guy risked his life, he didn't pay attention and, sadly, this is the outcome."

Bieber wasn't in the Ferarri; it was his assistant who was driving and was pulled over by the California Highway Patrol for speeding on a nearby freeway.

The death cast more harsh light on the pap-celeb relationship, ever more toxic since Princess Diana was killed in Paris in 1997 in a drunken-driving crash while being pursued by photographers. Initially they were blamed but later were cleared. Still, scores of celebrities in recent years have complained about how they and their children have been tormented by paparazzi cornering them at school or chasing them in cars.

Now some celebs - namely Bieber and Miley Cyrus - are once again demanding new laws against the paparazzi. Cyrus took to Twitter to rant about how "dangerous" they are.

Bieber issued a statement, saying he hoped the "tragedy" would lead to laws "to protect the lives and safety of celebrities, police officers, innocent public bystanders, and the photographers themselves."

But California already has such a law, signed by celebrity Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2010, which enhances the penalty for driving dangerously in pursuit of photos for commercial gain. That law was recently overturned by a judge as overly broad and a violation of the First Amendment. The case involved a paparazzo who was charged for a high-speed pursuit of Bieber, 18, who has been catnip for paps since he was a preteen.

Prosecutors have promised to appeal, but First Amendment advocates say the paparazzi are entitled to its protections, too. Ken Paulson, president of the First Amendment Center in Nashville (and former editor of USA TODAY), says it's against the law to speed but California tried to make the punishment worse for journalists.

"Most mainstream news organizations are horrified by the sometimes predatory paparazzi, but the press gets very nervous when journalism is a target," Paulson says. "There's no way a law could be written (under the Constitution) that legally targets the tabloid press."